Newmarket's best burger

Grab life by the buns.
Sometimes all you need is a fat, juicy burger to satisfy your every craving.
The Era is going back to beefy basics to crown a local burger king.
Rather than gamble with the toppings, each burger — with a few exceptions — was loaded with tomatoes, lettuce, bacon, cheddar, ketchup and mayonnaise.
Our picks:

East Gwillimbury

1. Roast of Sharon
18947 Woodbine Ave., Sharon, 905-478-1111,
Pub burger, $13 + HST
comes with fries
While the most expensive burger on the list, it is also the thickest and most mouth-watering. Each big bite is coated with the perfect amount of melted cheddar and crispy bacon. Your eyes and nose devour the perfect portion of beef in between the buns before it reaches your mouth. This burger, while limited and basic with its choice of condiments, packs a mean smell punch. Grab this burger with two hands. When you enter the lodge-esque restaurant, you are greeted by a large moose over the fireplace mantle and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer at the front door.

2. Sam’s Family Restaurant
20497 Leslie St., Queensville,
905-478-7336
Banquet burger, $4.90 + HST
For the past six years, owner Sam Hatzivasiliou, has been flipping homemade burgers over a flat top. There are a coupe of burger choices, but what makes this place great is the quaint table settings that include real cutlery, flowers and checkered tablecloths.
What makes this burger worthy of a trip to Queensville is the local produce used for toppings. Burgers are topped with local and extra ripe field tomatoes, giving a nice hearty taste to the meat patty. The burger is made using an old family recipe and secret blend of spices. While not a fat burger, you get a nice grill taste without an overbearing meat flavour. Using a flat to grill, the edges get crispy, adding texture to the burger.

3. Prince Albert Pub
69 Main St., Mount Albert,
905-473-1629,
Royal Burger, $8.99 + HST
comes with fries
Venture into this century home and go back in time with this hearty burger. Succulently grilled, this is one of the largest burgers on our Top 5 list. The peameal bacon adds a layer of smoke and salt in between the cheddar and beef.

4. Gourmet Burger Co.
18185 Yonge St., East Gwillimbury,
905-898-0030,
6 oz GBC burger $7.50 + HST
This burger joint has a collection of signature gourmet burgers where basic toppings such as tomatoes, lettuce and ketchup are left by the wayside. To make its burgers more upscale, the restaurant offers goodies such as hot sauce, garlic, chipotle or honey mayo, balsamic marinated caramelized onions and portabello mushrooms. Some of the signature burgers include an Australian favourite that’s loaded with a fried egg, bacon, beets and pineapple. If you are looking for a light-tasting burger, this is the place. The burger is thinner than most, but the bacon gives a salty hint to the patty.

5. The North Burger
20473 Hwy 48, Mount Albert,
905-473-7664
5 oz. banquet burger, $4.59 + HST
The North Burger is the perfect pit stop during a road trip. Your burger toppings are loaded on the meat patty once it comes off the grill, so the bacon and cheese melt into the tomato and lettuce, making the perfect one-biter.

Newmarket

1. Big Bone BBQ
and Wicked Wings
207 Eagle St.,
Newmarket,
905-853-9888
Fantasy burger, $10.95 + HST, comes with fries, coleslaw
and beans.
While a little less traditional with smoked peameal bacon and black angus beef, this is a man’s burger. Instead of any form of vegetables, such as tomatoes, lettuce or even Ketchup, this burger is loaded to the brim and overflowing with pulled pork.
The pork bits are smoked in the in-house smoker — a tantalizing smell that hits you when you walk through the door — and are then soaked in Big Bone’s signature barbecue sauce.
This is not your average burger.
The smokeyness from the pork seeps into the beef. Even the takeout container smells meaty.
To eat this burger, you need a bib, toothpicks and a fork to gobble up the extra pulled pork that won’t fit in your mouth.
Your burger comes with five wetnaps and eight napkins, and you will use them all.

2. Biggie Burgers
883 Mulock Dr., Newmarket,
905-853-4424,
Biggie 6 oz burger $4.29 + HST
Plain and simple, Biggie’s burger is fat and juicy. These burgers are charbroiled, leaving the burger tender and moist. Leaving the burger on the grill a little longer gives it that nice charred taste. Here, you will find fast-fried bacon, giving you all the bacon goodness without the grease. Frying the bacon also gives you a crunchy bite that can hold its own against any topping and doesn’t get lost in the beef patty. And adding to the wide selection of Greek items on the menu, you can take in the Greek scenery from the various wall paintings while chomping your burger. The walls are brightly painted, matching the stucco homes found in the Greek Isles.

3. Mel’s Dinor
559 Steven Court, Newmarket,
905-895-0550
Banquet burger, $6.55 + HST
Mel’s Dinor is touted to have killer food and claims to have one of the best big burgers in town. And a big burger, my gosh, it is. The big burger sign in the window rings true. Rather than being round and plump, this homemade burger is more shaped like a football, and you need to hold it with two hands. If texture eating is your thing, the burger at Mel’s is a smooth bite, instead of being crumbly. It is cooked on a flat top with a hint of onion and spices in the patty.

4. South St. Burger
16925 Yonge St., Newmarket,
905-830-8014,
1/3 lb hamburger, $7.30 + HST
With more than five different cheeses, three types of mustard, mayo and sauces, two flavours of ketchup, four different relishes and all the standard veggie toppings, you can build any flavour combination to make your mouth water. You can also choose luxury items such as Cajun onions, guacamole or olives. This was one of the few places that offered a whole-wheat variety of bun. The burger is cooked on a grill and the bacon is cooked right on the all-beef patty, injecting the meat with yummy bacon juices.

5. Best Pizza in Town/Chubby’s Homemade Burgers
1100 Davis Dr, Newmarket,
905-836-8200
Banquet burger, 3.99 + HST
After cooking it on a flat top grill, because the patty is a little thinner, it gets crispy around the edges. The crispiness complements the toasted bun and the secret blend of spices used in the meat. With a McDonald’s on one side of the plaza, Harvey’s across the street and Wendy’s down the road, Chubby’s has been flipping burgers for more than two decades and its non-processed meat is sure to be a fan favourite.

Aurora

1. Jersey’s Bar and Grill
14987 Yonge St.
Great Canadian burger — $10.99 (comes with fries)
This burger is fat, tall and meaty.
You need two hands to gobble it.
This burger is grilled and cheese is placed on in the last seconds of cooking, making a cheesy coating around the patty and peameal bacon.
Take your time and catch sports action and results on one of the restaurant’s half-dozen TVs.

2. TC’s Burgers
15198 Yonge St.
6 oz. homestyle burger — $5.95
This burger is one of the more popular items on the menu.
It leaves you licking your lips and wanting more.
‘Sometimes I take the burgers home and they don’t taste the same on the barbecue. You can’t cook a burger the same way at home.’
“It’s the grill,” TC’s owner and burger-lover Chris Issaris said. “Sometimes I take the burgers home and they don’t taste the same on the barbecue. You can’t cook a burger the same way at home.”
For this burger joint, beef patties and sports go hand-in-hand — eat the burger with one hand and flip through the sports section of a newspaper with the other.
The ceiling is decked with sports memorabilia such as hockey jerseys, trophies and pictures.

3. The Filly and the Firkin
14888 Yonge St.
Cheddar and bacon burger — $11.95 (comes with fries and onion rings)
This burger is made from scratch, so it takes about 15 minutes to prepare.
Bring a book if dining alone.
The white cheddar was a welcome surprise from the usual orange cheese.

4. South St. Burger
35 First Commerce Dr.,
1/3 lb hamburger — $7.30
With more than five different cheeses, three types of mustard, mayo and sauces, two flavours of ketchup, four different relishes and all the standard veggie toppings, you can try many flavour combinations to make your mouth water.
You can also chose luxury items such as Cajun onions, guacamole or olives.
This was one of the few places that offered a whole-wheat bun.
The burger is cooked on a grill and the bacon is cooked right on the all-beef patty, injecting the meat with yummy bacon juices.

5. Hero Certified Burgers
15340 Bayview Ave.,
4 oz Hero angus beef burger — $6.97 with peameal bacon
Hero has more than 16 different condiments and sauces from which to choose, not to mention four bread options, including a gluten-free bun. The bread choices are good, because this burger has a high bun-to-meat ratio.
Each burger comes with the Hero signature sauce.
If you are adventurous or really hungry, Hero is following a trend by offering an egg burger: a beef patty topped with a fried egg.